Q&A for: 19-May-08
2669. Q:
hi mike i have 2 questions, first u know the strength building program 3 times a weak, u know how you suppose 2 do 2days of 60% of ur max, and the last day 80% max, each r u suppose 2 increase weights each set, or stick with the same weights e.g the 60%max in 6sets do u increase from 75,76,77, ect, or is it that you should do 6 sets of 75 ect. And the second ? is that how do u increase strength like this, doing light reps for 2 days, and heavy weights the third day, i dont understand how that would increase strength, wouldn't it be more appropriate 2 do it how you would normally do it e.g five sets and slowly increasing the weights, look forward to hearing from you, Dave.
A:
I'm not sure which strength program you are talking about -- there are a lot of different ones out there -- but most would typically prescribe keeping the weight the same for all sets during any one day. So in your question, it would mean 6 sets of 75. As to how programs like this work, it's not something you or I can really think out logically -- strength programs are based on experiences of thousands weightlifters over many years. They don't always appear logical but they do work (or at least the reasonable ones do -- from what you described this one sounds reasonable).
The best way to think about it is that your strength depends on neurological training plus on your muscle strength. Your nervous system is what activates your muscle fibers and you need to train it to activate as many fibers as possible at the same time to achieve maximum strength. Nobody ever uses 100% of his or her potential muscle strength because nobody's nervous system can achieve perfect timing in activating all muscle fibers at once. But just like muscles can be trained, the nervous system can be trained as well to activate more of the muscle fibers at once. Nervous system is best trained through many repetitions with relatively light weights (those are your 60% days) and in fact it can 'burn out' and de-train if you continuously lift lots of heavy weights only. Muscles, on the other hand, are best trained through heavy weights -- though they too can be overtrained if you do too much. A good strength program will strike a balance between training the nervous system (through light weights) and the muscles (through heavy weights).
2670. Q:
I am a 31 old female and weigh 67 kg's. I have lost a total of 22 kg's with herbal life after my pregnancies but did not do any exercise until a month ago again. I used to be very active before my weigh gaining and after my first pregnancy I developed a rapid resting heart beat of 130 / minute which after many tests the specialist told me it was hormones. I was on beta blockers for 4 years to keep my heart rate down which also caused water retention and weight gain, but for some reason the herbal life shakes and suddon weight loss contriute to my resting heart beat turning back to normal. But some days especially when I get an adrenaline rush for any reason I can feel my heart speeding up heavy and I feel nausiated. And since I started cycling in the evenings between 10 km and 30 km I stay dead dead tired for days afterwards. Doing the actual exercise has no effect on me and my stamina levels are excellent, but the day after I start feeling terrible, cannot breath through and feels like I am walking with weights on my arms and legs. I do not even have muscle aches because I am used to being active in the past. Can it be that my heart is afterall still not ok and suffering under the exercise or am I just unfit and paranoid? And if I lost the weight with only good eating habits should I then rather stick to that and avoid the exercise? I would love to play field hockey again, but do not want to put myself at risk.
A:
Sorry to hear about your concerns. Unfortunately this appears to be a strictly medical question and you really need to talk to your doctor about it. Being tired the day or two after a big race is certainly not unusual, but the way you describe breathing problems does not sound normal to me. I hope you see your doctor about it and best of luck!
2672. Q:
What full body 3 day workout using RESISTANCE cables will build muscle and strength?
A:
I assume by 'resistance cables' you mean thick rubber tubes/bands like this that you can buy for a few dollars... They usually come with a small booklet showing you the possible exercises and programs. If yours didn't come with anything like that, you can check out this page.
A simple but effective program composed of the exercises on that page would be squats (3-4 sets), standing back row (3-4 sets), chair bench press (2-3 sets), seated shoulder press (2-3 sets), ab crunches (2-3 sets), and if you don't feel that's enough you could also add in some curls or other exercises at the end. You could do this workout every other day, keeping resistance high enough that you can do no more than 15-20 reps in any one set (fewer is OK).
This workout may not be as effective as you could do with access to a full gym with free weights and some machines, but it's a pretty good starting point. Good luck!
2673. Q:
Hi Mike . I wonder if you can make something a little clearer for me . I sort of understand RM and can estimate % of loads but I'm still not sure of SOF (short of failure) and how to present actual loads using this . Regards Martin .
A:
For going short of failure, use the same load range you would if you went to failure (typically weight that would cause failure in 6-12 reps), but instead of going all the way to failure simply stop 1 or 2 or 3 reps short. So, for example, you might select a 10-rep weight (roughly equivalent of 75% of your maximum single-rep strength), but instead of squeezing out all 10 reps you might only do 8 reps, thus stopping 2 reps short of failure.
2677. Q:
I have monitored my weight, fat, and total body water for the past week on a twice-daily basis at 5:30 and 12:00 am., on an athletic scale, designed for that purpose. My weight understandably increases in that period, (descending by morning) however my body fat declines by 2 to 3 lb’s during the six and a half hours between daily readings and then returns by the following morning. Why does the weight go up and the fat go down? The TBW fluctuates a couple of pounds but that too is not surprising. Is there a logical answer to this mystery.
A:
The answer is basically that body fat scales or handheld devices are simply unreliable :) They should not be trusted to produce accurate or consistent readings of body fat. Scales measure the body weight accurately (and as you noticed your body weight typically increases during the day as you eat and drink) but I would just ignore whatever they show for your body fat readings. A much more effective measure of body fat changes is how tightly or how loosely your old clothes fit at the waist and at the shoulder/chest level -- looser at the waist and tighter up above is a sure sign that your bodyfat is decreasing and your muscle mass is increasing, for example.
2680. Q:
Hey, Mike I need to lose weight but, I don't like crunches,cardio workout or excercising machines I weigh about 165 or more and my height is 5''3. My boyfriend is always putting me down it's gotten so bad he does't even want to come see me anymore he doesn't like me to go anywhere with him cuz he's a ashamed of my size and because I'm like the heaviest girl he's gone out with at school , Mike he never had a problem with my weight before because I weighed 116 back then but now I weigh more and I want to lose weight fast got any suggestions on what I should do?
A:
Sorry to hear about your troubles. Losing weight is not difficult, but it will go MUCH quicker and product MUCH more lasting results if you integrate some level of physical activity (preferably both resistance training and cardio -- but at least something!) instead of just dieting. However, if you are absolutely not willing to do exercise you should still be able to lose some weight by changing your diet. Please start by reading my Diet article to learn how to eat for fat loss. After that you can use Fitness Guide to get a sample diet for yourself -- if you don't do any exercise than you'll need to reduce the overall calories that the Fitness Guide recommends by about 20% or so.
I recommend that you don't think of this change as a temporary diet change so you can lose weight and then go back to your old ways, but as a positive change for the rest of your life! It doesn't mean that you'll never again eat chips or ice cream or pizza, but simply that your goal for an average day would be to eat the way my diet article and the Fitness Guide recommend: several small balanced nutritious meals throughout the day. Good luck!
2681. Q:
so i've been doing a lot of chest work out because i want to get rid of unnecessary fat but everytime i do it just seems like they are just getting BIG and not getting toned at all. what do i do? whats considered a light weight ? because i want to get toned and lean not big and bulky.
A:
It sounds like you are simply eating too much which results in both new muscle gains and some fat gains, but certainly not any fat loss which is what toning really is. Your training is probably just fine, but whether it leads to fat loss and toning or mass gain depends ENTIRELY on what and how much you eat, not on how you lift. Start by eading my Nutrition article to learn how to eat for fat loss and then use Fitness Guide to get a sample diet for yourself (specify 'Lose Fat or Tone/Maintain' as your goal). Feel free to come back here and ask any follow-up diet questions if you are still not sure what to do, but the article and the fitness guide will give you a starting point for the diet changes necessary for you to start losing some of that fat.
2682. Q:
i'm 15 years old and i started putting bench press in my work outs, but i herd bench press and squats can stunt your growth spurt. Is that true? Samuel.
A:
When done with correct form squats and bench press do not have any negative effects, but if you try to lift more than you can or don't use good form and manage to injure yourself it is true that these exercise can stunt your growth. To avoid that you should follow simple guidelines: always use spotters both for bench press and squats and in general only lift with adult supervision, make sure you are completely familiar with the exercise and its proper form before you start using heavy weights (this is a good advice for any age and any exercise), and never go to muscular failure or even close to failure on exercises until you are at least 17-18 years of age. If you follow these guidelines you can still do all the exercises and make great progress in strength and muscle development but without putting yourself in unnecessary danger.
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